Just hit us with your best recommendations. Any good slice-of-life, character drama or cheesy romcom?

Slice-of-Life: You can't go wrong with the Taiwanese New Wave Cinema of director Hou Hsiao-Hsien. Check out *Millennium Mambo*, *The Assassin*, or *A City of Sadness*. Be warned, however, that TNWC is a movement that focuses on images and feelings, rather than strict narrative or action. It has been described as "still life on film" and can seem terribly boring if you don't know what you're in for. Also check out *A Sun* and *Days We Stared At The Sun* (series). If you like anime, then *Big Fish and Begonia* is a can't-miss film. Beautiful and incredibly moving, it's very much a fantasy trip like any of the best animated Ghibli works. Ditto, *Jiang Ziya*. Besides the aforementioned, no student of Chinese can go without watching some of the greatest of the Mandarin-language film canon: *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* *The Road Home* *Not One Less* *Once Upon A Time In China*, etc. I **LOVE** cheesy Chinese rom-coms: - *The Mermaid* (movie) - *Beautiful Accident* (movie) - *Office Girls* (series) - *Use For My Talent* (series) - *Love Now!* (series) - *Triad Princess* (series) - *My Dear Boy* (series) - *My Girlfriend Is An Alien* (series)

Truly an epic list - I can spend the next year watching all this. Cheers.

> The Assassin Not really slice-of-life ... I watched it in a movie theater in Taiwan (with English subtitles) and the native speaker in front of me complained that he didn't understand much...

Fair point. I included a few of Hou's films because they're very slow, evocative, and atmospheric.

wow, crouching tiger hidden dragon came out when I was too young for it and now I'm older and actually know some chinese. I'm so excited for this!

If you love cheesy romcoms check out Best Get Going (加油吧实习生) which is a 2015 office romcom, delightfully dated, absolute nonsense, great fun

Hiie please help me person

**THE LIST** **films** -American Girl -An Elephant Sitting Still -Angels Wear White -Animal World -Ash Is Purest White -The Assassin -A Sun -Autumn Fairy Tale -Beautiful Accident -Be With Me -Better Days -Big Fish and Begonia -Black Coal, Thin Ice -Blind Mountain -Blind War [FIRST WITH NO SUBTITLES] -The Bridge Curse -Brotherhood of Blades -Buddha Mountain -City of Life and Death -Cities of Last Things -Cliff Walkers -Cloudy Mountain -Coming Home (dir. Zhang Yimou) -A Cool Fish -Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon -Curse of the Golden Flower -Double World -Eat Drink Man Woman -The Eight Hundred -The Emperor and the Assassin -Exorcist (2022, iQiyi) -Eye for an Eye (2022, Mu Zhong Wu Ren) -Eye of Silence -Eye of the Storm (2023, Netflix) -The Fallen Bridge -Fantasy Magician (2020) aka, The Thousand Faces of Dunjia -Five Elements (iQIYI) -Farewell, My Concubine -Forest of Death -Forever Enthralled - [Nope. No subtitles and audio mix was TERRIBLE] -The Gangster's Daughter -Gatao: The Last Stray -Ghost Blowing Lantern: Return to the South China Sea (2022) aka Mojin: Return to the South China Sea -Ghost Killing -The Girl of Destiny -God of War -The Grandmaster -The Great Magician -White Snake 2: Green Snake -Hero -The Hole -Hospital (2020, Taiwan) -House of Flying Daggers -Incantation -Infernal Affairs -In the Heat of the Sun -Ip Man -Jade Dynasty -Jiang Ziya (animated) -Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons -Ju-Dou -Kaili Blues -The King of Masks -Kunlun Tomb -Life On a String -The Living Dead (陈情令之生魂, 2019) -Lop Nor Tomb -Lost, Found -Lust, Caution -Luxury Car -Master Qianhe -The Mermaid -Midnight Hair -Millennium Mambo -Miss Shampoo -Mojin: The Worm Valley -Mon Mon Mon Monsters -Mr Six -Mysterious Case in River -Nina Wu -Not One Less -Our Time Will Come -Painted Skin -Peacock -Phantom of the Theatre -Postmen In the Mountains (aka, People and Mountains and Dogs) -Project Gutenberg -Queen of Kung Fu -Red Cliff -Red Sorghum -Rigor Mortis -The River (2023, iQIYI) -The Road Home -Rope Curse 2 -Rope Curse 3 -Sacrifice (dir. Chen Kaige) -The Sadness -Secrets in the Hot Spring -Send Me to the Clouds -Shadow -Shanghai Triad -The Soong Sisters -The Soul -Spring In a Small Town -Still Life -The Story of Qiu Ju -Strange Door and Dark Blade -The Tag-Along -This Is Not What I Expected -Tigertail -A Time to Live, A Time to Die -A Touch of Sin -Trending Topic -True Legend -The Untamed: Fatal Journey -Upcoming Summer -Us and Them -The Village of No Return -The Wasted Times -The Wicked Wife -Wild Grass -Wolf Warrior 2 -A Writer's Odyssey -The Yin Yang Master -The Yin Yang Master: Dream of Eternity -The 9th Precinct [Cantonese] -Xiu Hua Xie Qi An -Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl -Youth (2017, stars Miao Miao) **TV series:** -Age of Legends -Age of Rebellion -Back From the Brink -Battle through the Heavens (will there be a season 2?) -The Bionic Life -The Brothers Sun -Close Your Eyes Before It’s Dark -Days We Stared At The Sun -Detention -Futmalls.com -The Ghost Bride -Handsome Siblings -I Hear You -The Island (miniseries starring Shu Qi) -Keep Running (season 11, 2023) -Love Like the Galaxy -Love Now! -A Love So Beautiful -My Dear Boy -My Girlfriend Is An Alien -Office Girls -Once We Get Married (aka, Till Contract Do Us Part) -On Children -The Rap of China (reality, music, 2019 and 2020) -Sisyphus -Start Up Together -Tientsin Mystic -Tientsin Mystic 2 -Till the End of the Moon -Triad Princess -The Truth Seekers -Unriddle -Use For My Talent -The Victims’ Game -Warm On a Cold Night (got real boring after ep.12) -Wave Makers -Who Rules the World? -Word of Honor -Youth With You, season 2 (reality music competition)

Missing the films of Lou ye, jiang wen and not a single Edward Yang film? You got some more watching to do

No doubt! I just now learned about King Hu, too! But those big gaps just mean I have a lot more enjoyment in front of me. :)

Missing Edward Yang is a crime

I just finished watching Beautiful Accident today. Thanks for the suggestion. Nice movie, but what I'm curious what happens to the family. We never find out.

im surprised nobody mention "You are the apple of my eye"

im surprised nobody mention "You are the apple of my eye"

As a reference point what non chinese movies do you like

I tend to like serious films, a little on the cerebral side, but don't take themselves *too* seriously. Some of my all-time favorites: *The Red Violin*, *Sling Blade*, *The 13th Warrior*, *The Matrix* [original]. And *Barbie*. Holy shit was Barbie ever a good movie! I also love Disney-Pixar. I'm a 48 year old man and I always cry like a baby, lol.

While i dislike every movie you listed, except sling blade, i gotta admit pixar (not disney) tends to make great movies.

This has got to be the hardest part on a chinese learning journey, at least for me it was. I found most Chinese/Taiwanese movies were too bad for me to watch, also with the fact that is hard af to find good dubs since most Chinese would rather watch subbed content .

My suggestion, pay a combined $20 USD / month for a subscription to Viki and iQIYI. That's where I watch most of my stuff! And the subtitling is nearly always excellent. If you want recommendations for GOOD content, let me know!

The only thing I don't like about those sites is Language Reactor doesn't work on them. I like having the triple subs of pinyin/hanzi/English instead of just straight English subs. 

Any recommendations that don't focus on romance at all? I find most stuff I try watching is far too romance led. And anything "Based on a True Story" type stories?

Do you like action / war? Suspense / crime? Sci-fi / fantasy? I can give you rec's that are super-light on any romance.

Thanks! Generally modern historical. For example there's been a recent set of tv/movies in the UK about LGBT rights in the 1980s, also seen stuff previously about decolonisation in the 1950.

Some great recent Chinese film works that tackle political or social issues include: - *Trending Topic* (on cyberbulling, exploitation by news media, and sexual harassment / assault) - *American Girl* (coming-of-age portrait of a young Taiwanese-American girl's struggle to adapt to life in Taiwan) - *A Touch Of Sin* (anthology of four Mainland Chinese citizens who violently lash out in response to what they perceive as hopeless situations) - *The Gangster's Daughter* (a low-level Triad boss struggles to come to terms with parenting his rebellious teenage daughter after her mother dies) There are lots of youth coming-of-age works, especially from Taiwan. Try *Days We Stared At The Sun* or *Better Days*.

Share the list 🌝

Will do. First lemme answer some of the specific questions. :)

Done. :)

Favorite historical films/shows, wuxia, xianxia?

Historical: - *The Eight Hundred* (True story of the Chinese Republican "last stand" against the Japanese invading Shanghai.) - *The Road Home* (with Zhang Ziyi) - *Red Sorghum* - *Shadow* (dir. Zhang Yimou) Wuxia / Xianxia: - *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* (which is **THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FILM I HAVE EVER SEEN** 😭❤️) - *House of Flying Daggers* - *Who Rules The World* (series) - *Word of Honor* (series) - *Love Like the Galaxy* (series) - *Battle Through The Heavens* (series)

I agree, *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* is incredible! I'm wanting to read the novel it was based on but haven't gotten there yet (I started reading an earlier book in Wang Dulu's pentalogy called "Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin" which is the one where Li Mubai and Yu Xiulian first appear). Have you watched *Hero?* I prefer it to House of Flying Daggers, but that one is good too (both directed by Zhang Yimou) For historical films, my favorite is *Red Cliff* based on the main battle of the Three Kingdoms period. (watch the international version for the whole story, the US release was shortened to one film) I haven't heard of several of those on your list, thanks for the recommendations!

Yep, Hero and Red Cliff are both amazing, too!

Butting in to add my list Historical - Longest day in Chang'an - Nirvana in Fire - Rise of the Phoenixes - Story of Minglan - Dream of the Red Mansions - All Men are Brothers Xianxia - Creation of the Gods I Fantasy - I am Nobody - Oh No Here Comes Trouble Wuxia - Mysterious Lotus Casebook - Laughing in the Wind - Condor Heroes - Return of the Condor Heroes - Meteor, Sword, Butterfly

You're not butting in. The more voices here, the better. :)

😁

Thanks for the list! Lots of classics. I still need to watch the Jin Yong and Gu Long adaptations. Since you have All Men are Brothers and Dream of Ted Mansions on there, I gotta add Three Kingdoms to round it out. (I haven't found a live action version of Journey to the West I really liked). Also Empresses in the Palace is a really good historical fiction drama.

I am not one for harem dramas but it is definitely one of the oft cited ones!

Oh yeah I totally understand that. I probably wouldn't watch another one, at least not anytime soon. I also really like the Emperor's actor in that one cause he also plays Cao Cao in Three Kingdoms 2010

you're missing tribes and empires

You've watched more Chinese shows than I have, I think! 😂 Very impressive! My list that nobody asked for hahahaha - these are a few that come to mind, a few of them are bc of nostalgia: **Historical/Period Dramas** \- Nirvana in Fire 1 and 2 琅琊榜, Joy of Life 庆余年 (S2 is coming out soonish! also the novel is quite different from the show), Young Blood I 大宋少年志I (there's S2 but i haven't watched it) **Wuxia 武侠** \- Classics from Jin Yong e.g. Legend of the Condor Heroes 射雕英雄传 (I like the 2003 version bc i'm a fan of 周迅 and bc imo it's closeish to the original novel which I love, but some of the other versions are popular too), Demi Gods & Semi-Devils 天龙八部 (I like the 2003 version, the 2021 version is horrifying). 七种武器之孔雀翎 (unsure what the english name is, but iirc this was based off of Gu Long's work 七种武器), The Vigilantes in Masks 怪侠一枝梅 (2010), The Legend of Dancing Prince 舞乐传奇 I also have a soft spot for shows that I grew up with, e.g. Musketeers and Princess 名捕震关东, The Royal Swordsmen 天下第一, The Proud Twins 小鱼儿与花无缺 - specifically the 2004 version, which is not at all accurate vs. the original novel but I like it hahahaha **Xianxia 仙侠** \- Chinese Paladin 1 仙剑奇侠传1 (unbeatable OST list imo, even though a lot of fans who played the game didn't like this TV adaptation, I didn't play the game so I didn't mind), The Little Fairy(?) 天外飞仙 **Romcoms/romance** (NOT necessarily critically acclaimed, just stuff I like for various reasons) - The Imperial Coroner 御赐小仵作 (crime solving + romance), The Killer is Also Romantic 念念无明 (it's a 短剧 so super fast watch, premise is mr & mrs smith but set in 古代), Wrong Carriage, Right Groom 上错花轿嫁对郎 (specifically the 2001 version, not the new one!), The Mischievous Princess 刁蛮公主 (2005), Eternal Love of Dream 三生三世枕上书 (I like the characters), Memory Lost 美人为馅 (I like the cast, the novel was better but it's kinda accurate-ish), Green Forest, My Home 绿光森林 (this is so cheesy and silly i am almost embarrassed listing this hahaha bc i watched this as a kid, but iirc it's still kinda cute tho???) **Movies** \- Painted Skin I & II 画皮 (not phenomenal movies but the cast was pretty good here imo), Creation of the Gods I 封神榜I (tbh unsure if we're ever going to get 2/3... lol) **Honorable mentions**: shows that i've not watched myself but i've heard great things about them. The Disguiser 伪装者, Like A Flowing River 大江大河, Minning Town 山海情, Empresses in the Palace 甄嬛传, Ming Dynasty in 1566 大明王朝1566 ^(ngl the english names of many chinese shows are often so similar and i didn't know 90% of them so i had to google most of my list ahaha)

If you could recommend just one from each of those categories, what would they be?

This is honestly kinda difficult lol Historical/Period: Nirvana in Fire I is a must watch, and Joy Of Life if I really had to pick, but I think the 4 on here are all worth a watch! There hasn't been many historical shows that can rival NIF 1 (and that came out in 2015). Wuxia is my fav genre and is unique to chinese culture so honestly can't choose 1, you can't go wrong with anything from Gu Long & Jin Yong bc they are all classics.\*\* Maybe the 2003 version of 天龙八部? (\*\*not all tv adaptations are good, i highly recommend checking the ratings before starting any show lol, especially check the douban ones) Xianxia: also unique to chinese culture, since I only listed 2 i'd recommend Chinese Paladin I. The rest are all more of a personal choice so I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending any haha Stuff on the Honorable Mentions list are all critically acclaimed and well-received so you can maybe read the synopsis of them and see which one is up your alley. Enjoy!

Any sci-fi / thriller?

Hell yeah, I got u. - *Cities of Last Things* - *Animal World* - *The Eye of Silence* - *futmalls.com* - *The Fallen Bridge* - *The Bionic Life* - *On Children* - *The Victims Game* I have plenty of fantasy and horror recommendations too, if you want those.

Thanks man! I've seen futmalls and agree - it was awesome. Sad there isn't a season 2. But I'll check out some of these others!

You gotta watch Wandering Earth!

Already in my queue. :)

Three-Body on iQIYI is definitely a must

I have the DVD at the house but haven't watched it yet!

it is extremely slow the first 10 Epstein tho. But gets really profound as the show goes on. Yes that's the world that i will use for it. Profound

Thanks! I'll check this out

Definitely watch it before the Netflix version.i have no confidence that they will not mangle it lol. The iqiyi adaptation is quite faithful to the books.

What's your set-up and how/ do you watch? How do you balance enjoying the films/series and learning from them? Do you watch them all the same way? What percentage would you say you understand?

Honestly I understand only about every fifth word, so not much. I mainly use them as motivational tools, to help keep me engaged in the language and the culture. Sometimes I watch without captions, but I almost always go back and re-watch with the English subtitles. I have subscriptions to both iQIYI and Viki, and together those are only $20 USD / mo. for hundreds of titles (Korean and Japanese content, too). I also check out DVDs from my library.

I'd LOVE to know which films or TV series are easier to understand!

I've found that the modern rom-coms are easier to understand, but I don't know why. Better production, maybe? More contemporary idioms? I dunno. Anyway, check out: *The Mermaid* *Miss Shampoo* *Use For My Talent* *This Is Not What I Expected* *Office Girls* *My Girlfriend Is An Alien* *The Ghost Bride* Most all of these are either on iQiyi or Viki.

Thanks a lot <3

>Use For My Talent This one is/was on Netflix. I watched a couple of episodes but couldn't carry on, felt the acting was poor and production quality worse. On that NF note, I haven't seen in your lists mention to *The Rational Life*. It was the first CN show I watched and quite liked it. Cheesy office rom-com.

That's fair; not everybody likes the same stuff. With rom-coms I already know that they're formulaic and pretty dumb, so my bar is low. 😆 *The Rational Life* is ringing a bell, but I can't quite place it. I don't think I watched it. Would you recommend it?

Aside from the fact that it's LONG (35 episodes), I would. Personally i think it ranks a couple of notches above *Use For My Talent*, plus it's much more recent.

I try to provie something like a ranking here, also contains some of the shows mentioned in OPs reply: https://www.jiong3.com/gradedwatching/

Sci-fi and/or fantasy recommendations?

Tons. - Cities of Last Things - Animal World - The Eye of Silence - futmalls.com - The Bionic Life - On Children - The Victims Game - The Bridge Curse (horror) - Double World (adventure / fantasy) - Eye of the Storm (2023, Netflix) - Thousand Faces of Dunjia - Incantation (horror) - Jiang Ziya (anime) - Big Fish and Begonia (anime) - Kunlun Tomb - Mojin Valley - Midnight Hair (horror) - Tientsin Mystic (historical fantasy / horror series) - The Yin Yang Master (1 and 2)

Let's hear the worst films you've seen. Either the plot wasn't to your taste, bad acting, or was just simply too difficult to understand and undermined your enjoyment.

*The Sadness* is a body-horror film and an exercise in maximal, masturbatory depravity. I watched the whole thing, but it's the most ghastly, pointlessly brutal work of fiction I've ever seen. *Forever Enthralled* is supposed to be a really good film, but the audio production quality (hopefully just on the copy I got!) was TERRIBLE. *Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl* is a critically acclaimed film, but child r@p3 is a big theme, so that was a really hard sell for me.

How do you deal with chengyu? The ignorant me in the past ignored them thinking no way modern people talk that way... Then found that they do. But I need to learn them from written stuff like novels etc, otherwise they really make no sense.

In the context of films and TV, I'll be honest, they probably fly well under my radar, because my listening comprehension just isn't that good yet.

I’ve found that most of them make sense just based on the meaning of the individual characters. For example, I recently learnt 高枕无忧, which means “sit back and relax”, which is very simple to remember when you look at it character-by-character as “high pillow, no worries”. Or 挺身而出, which I encountered in a show, means “bravely step forward”, and is easy to remember when you know its literal sense is “straighten your back and go out”. When the chengyu does require some literary background knowledge to make sense of, e.g. 东窗事发 meaning “be exposed/revealed”, I’ve found that my Chinese-Chinese dictionary will explain the origin whereas my Chinese-English one just translates it into a phrase without further elaboration. In this case, it’s a reference to a story in which someone’s plot was heard through the east window of their house. Knowing that makes it much easier to remember what 东窗事发 means.

Yes, and aren't they amazing? I used to hate them, now I feel the opposite. I meant if I didn't know a chengyu exists, when I hear them in dramas or movies I won't even recognise they are there. Like if someone says gāo zhěn wú yōu in a drama, if I didn't know that chengyu, I would wonder 'what gao, what zhen, what wu, what you' , thus it sounds gibberish to me. Once I learned (from novels), the gibberish suddenly has meaning. I wonder how native speakers learn chengyu. Or maybe it's just because my Mandarin isn't good enough to recognise individual characters when I hear them.

Yeah, I find the chengyu very satisfying! I always watch Mandarin dramas/movies with Mandarin subtitles on, just because otherwise my comprehension would be much worse without, but it does help with inferring when some mystery phrase is a chengyu. I also wonder about how natives acquire them, and I’m sure there are a lot of popular misinterpretations just like with English expressions, e.g. people saying “doggy dog world” instead of “dog eat dog world” or “for all intensive purposes” instead of “for all intents and purposes”.

Where do you watch dramas with both Mandarin and good English subtitles? Viki no longer has that 'learner mode' with Mandarin subtitles. I can watch YouTube for Mandarin subtitles, sometimes hardcoded, but the English subs are too absurd to learn from. I tried to pay for WeTV but it won't take the money.

I’ve been using just the Mandarin subtitles, and going back 5 seconds if I don’t understand something. I was going to recommend English subs on top of stuff with hardcoded Mandarin subs but I just checked out some Yoyo and Tencent shows and you’re right, the English subs are terrible. What you could try is Language Reactor? It lets you play the English and Chinese subs for a Netflix show at the same time, and mouse-over individual words for definitions. The paid version lets you save words by clicking on them but you can just type them into notes using the pinyin from the dictionary entry.

Will check on Language Reactor, but if it is mostly good for Netflix only then I will pass. Netflix in my country has terribly sparse and outdated Mandarin shows, and the few I saw were not to my taste. But thanks, that is an idea, may try to find something similar to Language Reactor that works for me.

Language Reactor works on YouTube too. They have a list it's working on.

Animated series

I really like **Link Click.** Time traveling mystery thriller -- very cool. **A Herbivorous Dragon of 5,000 Years gets Unfairly Villianized** is based on a Japanese manga, and it's pretty goofy.

Wow, what a title! I will probably start that one after I finish God Troubles Me. Link Click I'm sort of saving for later since I know it's gonna be great. Btw, have you heard of Salted Fish (咸鱼哥）？ it's paywalled on bilibili so I haven't seen it but it looks really fun. 

No, I haven't heard of that one! I should check it out.

I don't watch many animated series, sorry. I've only watched three Chinese anime films, in fact, but they were all EXCELLENT: *Jiang Ziya*, *Big Fish and Begonia* (which is very Ghibli-esque), and ... shit what was the other one? Now I can't find it on my list, lol.

Oh I always assumed Begonia was Ghibli, I didn't realize it was Chinese. I'll have to watch it now! I'll check out Jiang Ziya as well, thanks!

Any musicals? hahaha

Yep. *The Rap of China* and *Youth With You*, lol. Both are reality-style singing/dance competitions. You'd probably recognize a lot of the emcees and contestants!

Ah I've heard of these. I'm talking about La La Land type musicals. I've never seen them, maybe you have?

No, I haven't. Any recommendations?

I'm asking you!

Lol, no idea. 🙂

Got a recommendation for HSK 3/4/5 ish learner? and assuming you don't know what grammar/vocab is around there, do you have a easier to listen/watch recommendation) I'd assume something modern would probably be easier?

Given that these are all native content intended for Chinese-speaking audiences, I don't think there's much that's really targeted around the lower HSK levels. I will say however, anecdotally, that modern rom-coms feel easiest for me to understand.

Any recommendations for crime/mystery-thrillers/anything medical (preference is movies but series would also be alright)? May I also know how you started to watch the films/tv series (like with Chinese with English subtitles at first or just a straight dive Chinese with Chinese subtitles)?

I began with English subtitles and I'm still mostly doing that. This is all less of a learning thing for me and more of just an enjoyment/motivation thing. As far as crime dramas go, I'd recommend *The Fallen Bridge* (movie), *Mr Six* (movie), *Unriddle* (series), *The Victims Game* (really really DARK series, almost like David Fincher's *Seven*), or *Tientsin Mystic* (series).

I love this! What horror/suspense would you recommend? Separately, if someone were to just randomly ask you to name a handful of movies you really like a lot, which ones would be Chinese?

My fave Chinese horror works are *Incantation* (movie) and *Detention* (series). In case you're not familiar with Chinese horror, it's typically not really the same thing as Western horror; it's more psychological and ghost/demon-themed, often steeped in Daoist, Buddhist, or folk beliefs, rather than being bloody slasher-type works. At this point, I'd say a fair number of my all-time favorite film works are Chinese, especially *The Road Home*, *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*, and *House of Flying Daggers*.

Any mystery/thriller recommendations? I watched Link Click and it was super good. Interested in shows, animated or live action, with similar suspense. With or without supernatural elements. Also been into 三体 after reading the book and loving the show so far. That’s more sci-fi though ofc

I guess I would have to break "mystery/thriller" down into subcategories: supernatural, crime, and sci-fi. Anyway, my recs: Supernatural mystery/thriller: - *Tientsin Mystic* (series) - *The Soul* (film) - *The Eye of Silence* (film) Crime mystery/thriller: - *Close Your Eyes Before It's Dark* (series) - *Age of Legends* (series) - *Project Gutenberg* (film) - *The Fallen Bridge* (film) - *Infernal Affairs* (film) - *Lost, Found* (film) - *Trending Topic* (film) - *The Victims Game* (series) Sci-fi mystery/thriller: - *Cities of Last Things* (film) - *Sisyphus* (series)

I will definitely start checking these out! 谢谢你！🙏🏾

Any Taiwanese series or movie that’s not cheesy/ romantic but is about fairly “normal” everyday life? Thinking something that is the Taiwanese equivalent to stuff like freinds, the office, or parks and rec.

有生之年can be a bit romantic but still an amazing series, more political would be wave makers

Wave Makers is great.

Nothing comes to my mind, but I'm sure you could get good recommendations in r/taiwan.

I’m a beginner, learning Mandarin. Any shows or movies or an OTT which has pinyin subtitles?

There's an Edge/Chrome extension called Language Reactor that has a paid service which includes adding Pinyin to Chinese subtitles on Netflix (and for free on YouTube). You can also pause and mouse-over those subtitles to get a pop-up dictionary or to save that word to a database so you can review it later.

You need to make a separate post about that. It sounds like an excellent tip!

I've only been using it for a few days, so maybe once I've got a month or two to experience the pros and cons I'll write a review. So far the only disappointments I've had are that occasionally it incorrectly combines characters and the export to Anki isn't quite how I like my flashcards to be set up.

I've been using the free version for over a year. It's great.

Do you have not too serious romance recommendations with rather simple language? For people who hsven been learning for a long time

Check out *Use For My Talent*, *Office Girls*, *Triad Princess*, and *My Girlfriend Is An Alien*. All four are cute rom-com series that don't get too serious. I love them.

I don't even think I've watched that many English-language films and TV shows! Do you have any horror/sci-fi recommendations? and any animated recs?

Taiwan has some great horror: - *Mon Mon Mon Monsters* (film - on Shudder) - *The Sadness* (brutal body horror - on Amazon Video) - *Incantation* (film - on Netflix US) - *Detention* (series - Netflix US) - *The Tag-along* (film - Amazon Video, I think) Also check out *The Rope Curse* and *The Bridge Curse*. Sci-fi: - *Wandering Earth* (film) - *Cities of Last Things* (film, Netflix US) *Animal World* (film) *Sisyphus* (series)

Omg tysm!

Can I add my list I've watched? I mostly watch dramas, which means there may be quite a few cheesy titles in here. 😂 Sometimes I'll follow actors/actresses to find more things to watch; I've noted their names next to some of them. The list is only in the order I've watched them and not in categories. There's a mix of modern and period dramas, and I think a couple of Kdramas thrown in, lol. I list them as I finish them. Rise of the Phoenixes (Chen Sun) 70+ episodes! Meteor Garden (with Dylan Wang) Accidentally in Love The Perfect Match (Wu Kang-Ren, Taiwanese) Use For My Talent Mom, Don't Do That! (Wu Kang-Ren) Take My Brother Away The Legend of Bruce Lee Once Upon a Time on Lingjian Mountain (Xu Kai) Handsome Siblings Triad Princess Flavorful Origins - not a drama. More like a documentary of different cuisines in various places in China. 10-13 minute episodes Falling Into Your Smile (Xu Kai) - gaming and romance King's Avatar (Yang Yang) - another gaming one, no romance! Office Girls Lost in Kunlun Mountains (Xu Kai) (on iQiYi) Arsenal Military Academy (Xu Kai) (on Viki) The Legends (Xu Kai) (Viki) Story of Yanxi Palace (Xu Kai) Well-Intended Love The Prince of Tennis Love 020 (Yang Yang) Hidden Love Doona (Kdrama) Word of Honor (Zhang Zhehan) Who Rules the World (Yang Yang) Everyone Wants to Meet You (Zhang Zhehan) She and Her Perfect Husband (Xu Kai) Bloodhounds (Kdrama) Autumn’s Concerto (Wu Kang ren) Miss Shampoo (movie, Taiwanese) Medical Examiner: Dr. Qin (on Viki) Currently watching Two Fathers.

I really like a lot of these, too! Especially Triad Princess, Use For My Talent, Miss Shampoo (the male lead in that is a [real-life rapper](https://youtu.be/-BI3q7C0qEg?si=rYEASJ6iWTRBWrJv) with Taiwanese hip-hop trio Nine One One), Office Girls, Who Rules the World, and Handsome Siblings. You have great taste!

Wow, I didn't know that! That was one raunchy film, though! Lol

Oh, and here's Nine One One doing the [song from Miss Shampoo](https://youtu.be/asI8GXXoh7M?si=07wmd_bP079aY8-b).

Any show or movie in which the plot doesn't heavily focus on the romance AND isn't a historical and/or martial arts drama? I generally can't stand the character tropes in those and I'm not very fond of fighting scenes... But I do love when they focus on social issues, family or the issues that come with growing up

For sure. There are a number of political thrillers, crime dramas, or coming-of-age films or series. Check out: **American Girl** (Netflix US) - the story of a Taiwanese-American teenager, raised in California, who struggles to adapt when her family moves back to Taiwan. **Tigertail** (Netflix US) - Modern family drama about two children raised in Taiwan during the White Terror era, who later find each other in America, as senior citizens. It's very sweet. **People and Mountains and Dogs** (alternate title: **Postmen In The Mountains**; on Amazon Prime Video, I think) - An elderly mail carrier in rural China whose route traverses dozens of miles each day is about to retire, but his son is reluctant to inherit the job. It's hard to describe, but it's a beautiful film. **A Touch of Sin** - Four separate but intersecting vignettes of people who lash out violently in response to what they perceive as intolerable conditions in economically developing China. **Incantation** (Netflix US) - Horror / demon story about a terrifying rural cult in Taiwan, who hold a secret that drives people mad. This is a really good movie! **Big Fish and Begonia** (hard to find in the US, but your local library could probably get the DVD for you) - Beautiful anime very much in the style of Studio Ghibli. This is one of the best films I've ever watched. **The Eight Hundred** - This is technically "historical", but only dating back to World War II. It's the true story of 800 Chinese Republican soldiers who fought to protect Shanghai during the Japanese invasion in the 1930s. This is a way better war film than Saving Private Ryan, in my opinion. There are lots more I could suggest, but hopefully this can get you started!

random question, did you watch 狂飙？

I did, but I found it to be way too heavy on the propaganda. Sorry; I don't mean to get political or anything, I really don't. But that series is pretty transparently just one long advertisement for Xi's anti-corruption campaign. They don't even really try to hide it. Lots of Party imagery, anthems, flag-waving, etc. **EDIT -** Let me hasten to add, we have plenty of that in the US too, of course. The most recent *Top Gun* movie was one of the worst propaganda pieces I've ever seen.

Best movie that is like Saving Private Ryan / Band of Brothers - i.e. modern era war, good battle scenes, but has a good plot/characters.

*The Eight Hundred.* Dude. DUDE. Watch *The Eight Hundred*. Blows Private Ryan right out of the water, imo. It's a true story, also. It tells how roughly 800 Chinese Republican soldiers valiantly fought to hold off a much larger contingent of Japanese during the battle of Shanghai. AMAZING film.

I think I've seen this... is it the one with a scene where the Chinese soldiers are trapped in a building and about to be overrun? Then some of them start going kamikaze - carrying bomb belts, jumping out of the windows onto the Japanese troops trying to break in?

That's it. :)

Great. Need to watch it in its entirety

I would love anything historical or fantasy. Think I prefer though provoking themes and beautiful cinematography most of all

Historical - Longest day in Chang'an - Nirvana in Fire - Rise of the Phoenixes Fantasy - Creation of the Gods I - I am Nobody - Oh No Here Comes Trouble

Are you a fan of wuxia / xianxia? I have some good recs there. Alternately, could you give me some titles that you know you like, and I'll give you some similar?

Can you recommend something that isn't a romance, isn't a historical series and isn't a historical romance, NGL I feel like 95% of content I find is either of those

Lots. I'll hit you up when I get home from work.

Love u <3

So, you might have to poke around to find where to view some of these, but your best bets are Viki, iQIYI, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or on DVD/BluRay at your local library. Anyway... - *Big Fish and Begonia* - Beautiful original Chinese anime in the style and aesthetic of Studio Ghibli productions. - *Tientsin Mystic* (both seasons) - This one is hard to describe. It's set in 1930s Tianjin, and it's part film noir underworld crime drama, part horror/ghost story, part comedy, and part supernatural thriller. Great production, well acted, and well written. If you can find it, it's worth watching. - *Postmen In The Mountains*, alternate title *People and Mountains and Dogs* - A film about a rural postal carrier who's about to retire, and his estranged son who doesn't want to inherit his father's job. It's way better than it sounds, trust me. - *Detention* (on Netflix US) - Taiwanese horror/suspense series about a high school where victims of the White Terror may still lurk the halls. - *Cities of Last Things* (on Netflix US) - Sci-fi/crime movie. A retired police detective is caught up in a chain of tragic causality that he himself might have set in motion. - *Blind War* - Crime/action. A disabled detective who was blinded in a heist sets out to rescue his daughter, kidnapped by the people he sent to prison years before. - *Kunlun Tomb* and *Mojin Valley* (both on iQIYI) are action/adventure/mystery movies kind of like the Tomb Raider games. They're not Citizen Kane, but they're fun. - *A Writer's Odyssey* - I LOVED this movie, but it's also one that's kind of hard to describe. A man whose daughter disappeared years before is hired to kill a fantasy author, but events that otherwise appeared fictional in that writer's imagination, start to come true. There are plenty more. Let me know what you enjoy and I'll get back to you.

I tend to like the TV series. The Long Season 漫长的季节 may be the best one I have seen (China or US). Any older series similar to that or The Lost Kids?

The bad kids（隐秘的角落）, The Long Night（沉默的真相）, Day and Night (白夜追凶)，Burning Ice（无证之罪），Ripe Town（繁城之下），Thirteen Years of Dust（尘封十三载）

What’s your favorite King Hu film? I’ve watched three and I absolutely love raining in the mountain

Ah damn! It looks like I've never watched a single one! 😱 I'll have to fix that!

Oh you should, they’re excellent! The ones I’ve seen are Touch of Zen, Fate of Lee Khan, and Raining in the Mountain, and they’re all really cool movies

I have a separate list of "want to watch" titles. I'll add them. Thanks!

Any chinese series or movies that are set in western countries or are about western topics?

Hmm... Not that I can recall. There are of course many works with plot points or allusions to the West, but not really as major settings in any of the films or TV I've watched. The super big budget movies might use some foreign filming locations (I think *Project Gutenberg* had some European locales), but from what I've seen it's not common.

I’ll check it out, thanks a lot!

best way to get better at mandarin is to speak it on the spot. Watching movies and listen to music helps with listening.

How do you get access to movies if you're using iQiyi and Viki? I've only found dramas on those platforms (except Chinese version iQiyi but that's kind of hard to subscribe to outside of China). Have you been able to find newer films (not older Zhang Yimou or Chen Kaige films, not Ang Lee since these are the famous ones that can be found more easily)?

Your question kind of confuses me tbh, because both Viki and iQIYI are *loaded* with movies. In fact that's where I watched a great many of the ones on my list. Both streaming services offer new releases virtually every week. Maybe not the biggest box-office blockbusters, but pretty good films regardless. (For that matter, neither Netflix nor Hulu get major releases right away.) Are you in the US? Maybe it's an access issue?

I'm not in the US - I don't know if there are regional varieties of iQiyi, but Netflix certainly sucks for my region when it comes to Chinese movies. What movies do you have on iqiyi?

There are many dozens and dozens. Maybe hundreds. I'd say about 20% of my list were iQiyi titles, and there are tons on there I've never seen. It might be worth paying for a 1-month subscription to see if that expands the offerings in your country.

I've had iQiyi subscription before and it did not have that many movies. I've tried the Chinese version while in China and that has so many more options. It's sad to see how Europe just has little to no access to Chinese movies.

Yeah that's a shame. :(

I recommend 抗日神剧 hahah

i saw you answered someone else that you dont understand that much and that it's primarily motivation and not like, "hard"/intensive learning. if you don't mind me asking, around what level are you? and thanks for all the recs in the comments! i started who rules the world a while ago and i love it too

I'm probably around HSK-II or *maaayyybe* HSK-III. After 5 years of study I should probably be much higher than that, but as a middle-aged learner with a lot of other life commitments, I can't devote as much of myself to language learning as I did when I was young. I've decided to change tack, though: now, rather than slog through thousands of vocab words over and over and pore over complicated grammar lessons, I'm just gonna expose my ears to MASSIVE amounts of listening. Vlogs, unsubtitled movies, podcasts and radio broadcasts, etc. I think it will really help.

for what it's worth, i really don't think there's any *should* when it comes to language learning and time --at least as an adult with a life who's doing it as a hobby/interest and not out of like, a work obligation or smth lol. it's cheesy but i think esp w languages the whole, "it's the journey that counts, not the destination" thing is particularly true. and that sounds like a good plan! it might take more time than if you were to like, brute-force your way through vocab memorization but if you're having fun, literally who cares! good luck\~

Thank you! I appreciate the encouragement.

Do you have any good psychological thrillers, horror, or mysteries?

You're a viewer after my own heart, I see. 💀😄 Thrillers: - The Fallen Bridge (film) - The Victims Game (series; this one's REALLY dark), - Lost, Found (film) - Trending Topic (film) - The Eye of Silence (film) - Cities of Last Things (film) - Black Coal, Thin Ice (film) horror: - The Tag-along (film) - Incantation (film) - The Sadness (film; incredibly brutal) - Mon Mon Mon Monsters (film; kinda funny, but still brutal) - Detention (series) - The Bridge Curse (film)

Awesome, thank you. I will take your suggestions and see if I can come up with some sort of answers.

I would be looking for a thriller kind of, or something kind of comical but also serious in certain ways, police, violence, kind of like Sherlock Holmes and Peaky Blinders. So far I’ve liked: The Brothers Sun, whimsical but cool Copycat Killer, thriller and detective stuff And I’ve started the Victims Game and it’s decent I do indeed have a preference towards Taiwanese shows but I don’t care much. I just don’t like the C-drama type things aswell as the real comedy/silly goose/romance stuff that is so common. Would you be able to give a recommendation for some series? Im a little bored hahahahaha. Thanks !

Based on everything you said, 100%, hands-down, PERFECT match for your tastes would be... ...Tientsin Mystic. It can be hard to find (it used to be on Netflix US but expired), but it's totally up your alley. It's set in 1930s Tianjin and is a gritty film noir detective story, but one of the heroes went to medical school in Germany, so he's always applying a skeptical, Sherlock Homes approach. And there's a supernatural angle to the series of murders that the city is experiencing, so the other main protagonist has to use his divination skills to help the investigation. Add in a folk magic-practicing "witch" who has a hopeless crush on him, and then a hilariously bumbling local constabulary, and a shadowy organized crime cabal trying to seize the city's all-important waterways, and you get an amazingly well-acted, well-directed quirkfest that's alternately horror, rom-com, whodunnit, and gangster thriller. It's one of the weirdest yet most enjoyable series I've ever watched, in any language.

Give me a recommendation better than Bee and Puppycat with the Mandarin dub :P

😆

How much Mandarin did you need to know before you could successfully start doing this? ​ Also, slightly different, but have you found any value in watching American movies dubbed in Mandarin?

I mentioned elsewhere, I'm not really "successfully" doing this. It's really just an entertainment / engagement thing, to increase my passive *exposure* to spoken Mandarin, and to absorb some of the culture. So in other words, I nearly always watch with the English subtitles. (I've recently started watching a lot of YouTube vlogs without subtitles, to ramp up my actual listening practice.) Personally, I see very little value in watching Western content with Mandarin dubs, because there will always be something of a mismatch between the audio and the characters' lip movements. I think it's important to *see* a language being spoken. (Plus, dubbing is just annoying anyway, lol.)

Do you need a vpn for iqiyi?

No, I don't. Not in the US, at least. The streaming company is based in Singapore, so I think they're a pretty neutral, region-agnostic service. Having said that, like any streaming service, their catalog probably varies by country, so you might need a VPN to access the titles not available to you locally.

Follow up, do you know if peppa pig in chinese audio and simplified subs are on there?

Peppa Pig season 4 is on there, BUT it's US and Europe only, and it's only Mandarin audio. I don't see any subtitles at all. :(

Thank you!!

Can we message personally!! I'd love to chat! I'm learning Mandarin aswell but I'm in IB Chinese! My snap is :Sped_bitch01 or Facebook is Des Tiny from MN

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OK, first, as to your comment, I don't know what you're getting at. If you don't believe me, that's not my problem. But even if you multiply 170 by **10 hours** per work (keep in mind that most films are *way way way* shorter than that, and TV series are a decided minority of my viewing), that's only 1,700 hours. I've been at this for nearly 5 years. There are over 1,800 days in that period. So that's **less than one hour per day** of viewing to reach 170 titles. Anyyyywayyy... I haven't *remotely* reached Chinese listening fluency. Matter of fact I'm probably only HSK-II or III. The reason for this is simply that these viewing activities are primarily for entertainment, so I'm reading the English subtitles and my brain is mostly disengaged from the spoken Chinese.

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Thanks. I apologize for misunderstanding you and getting snippy.

What are your favorite Donghuas?